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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Cameroon Cracks Down on CAR Rebels

By Moki Edwin Kindzeka /VOA News

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Cameroon soldiers
have seized weapons and arrested Muslim Seleka rebels from the Central
African Republic who have been hiding in Cameroon. Cameroon’s border
region has attracted the rebels who began fleeing CAR after French and
African Union reinforcements arrived to restore some semblance of order
in early December.

Terrified villagers of Kette in Cameroon's East region say they awoke to
the sound of artillery in the early hours of Sunday, when soldiers
closed in on a gold quarry that had been seized by Seleka rebels on the
Cameroon side of the border.

The governor of Cameroon’s East region, Ivaha Diboua Samuel Dieudonne,
told VOA that the military seized an impressive quantity of weapons. He
said he welcomed the military action against Seleka rebels.

“Rebels that are living in Central Africa in the bush come to our
territory armed here and there [and] create a kind of panic and so on,”
said Dieudonne.

He said the priority given to the East region by the defense and
security forces means that there will be little to fear going forward.

The operation comes less than a week after Cameroon deployed its elite
Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) to the East region to halt CAR rebel
efforts to set up up training bases in Cameroon.

Cameroonians have been subjected to various attacks since Seleka rebels
took power in neighboring CAR in March. Cameroon closed its border with
CAR in August.

The situation has steadily worsened as political instability turned into
a sectarian conflict, however, prompting the international community to
send in troops to disarm various rebel and militia groups in CAR.